A Stranger In Ponyville
by orhblin
Summary: A strange stranger is waking into Ponyville. Let's see what happens! Original character, No warnings, Pairing undecided.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: This is not-for-profit fanfiction. All parties mentioned are the property of the creator and I am not making any money from this (unfortunatly).

Chapter 1

It couldn't be far now, the signs were clear it must be somewhere around here. The roads had been used recently, hoof prints were everywhere, and there were more flowers, it must be. Even though he didn't believe it at first flowers really did grow more frequently around here. Although it didn't make sense it was true none the less. But not just that he could feel getting closer, he almost stated galloping from excitement. He had also seen more animals. I guess that was true too the leafs in the forest hadn't fallen yet, so it was a very beautiful scenery with yellow and red leafs above him it was like a nice roof even if it was a little dark. Soon oh so very soon he thought to himself …

Meanwhile

It was a pretty gloomy day in Ponyville, and only a few ponies where outdoors, but as usual pinkie pie was out enjoying the day. Like any other day. Why let some bad weather ruin the day? The pink pony used to say

But then her hoofs start twitching, Twilight saw it and asked "what is it this time, an earthquake a flooding or more pianos?" She said looking up in the sky in search for Derpy.

"No silly filly, it means there is a stranger in Ponyville. Pinkie explained.

"But strangers come and go all the time. It doesn't make sense that…"

"HEY I thought we agreed my Pinkie sense didn't need to make sense." Pinkie interrupted.

"*sigh* I guess you're right." Twilight said, with an up giving voice. She wasn't really in the mood for an argument with Pinkie Pie (if anypony ever was).

"Well I'm going to go and go meet him. You wanna come?" Pinkie asked.

"I don't see why not, I have some free time before getting back to my studies." Twilight said as they began walking.

After some time in an awkward silence Twilight broke the ice  
"But how do you know it's a stallion anyway? You do know mares are the most common, in Equestria?"

"Well it sure is odd" twilight looked at her with one of those sarcastic you don't say looks.

Pinkie continued: "But this time it fells very precise, usually I just know it's a stranger. But this time I know were HE is and that HE is a HE and not a SHE."

"Maybe HE is somepony special, Somepony important. The kind of pony who change things." The unicorn said as they slowly approached the Whitetail Woods.

And just as Pinkie Pie predicted, a new pony was walking out of the Whitetail Woods and towards Ponyville. And as pinkie had also predicted; it was a stallion.

The pony's mane was striped orange as the down going sun on the sky, and faint golden like a dusty old trophy. His coat had a sky blue colour and his eyes were yellow, but a very distinctive yellow, the kind of yellow you had never seen before in ones eyes. He was a unicorn, but he had this sky look over him, like he belonged in the fresh air above him.  
He was carrying a saddlebag, and it looked like it probably was all he owned, it was old and dusty, it was easy to see it had been used for a long time. His cutie mark was tree books in a blue circle.

As he saw the two mares, he ran towards them and then asked "Hej I skulle vel ikke vide hvor jeg kan finde pony landsbyen? Den skulle ligge lige her i nærheden." he said in a foreign language.

The two mares looked at each other they had no idea what he was saying. He saw the confusion in there eyes realizing they didn't understand one word of what he just said.

"I know quite a few languages but I have never heard that before. He is definitely not from Equestria, I wonder if he even knows how to speak our language." Twilight whispered to pinkie pie.

But her question was immediately answered when the stallion said "I'm sorry but you shouldn't know were I can find some shelter it looks like it could pour down any minute now" in a very crisp accent like he had no accent at all. His voice was very clear or maybe it was because of the accent, it was hard to tell.

And he was right. It slowly began dripping from the sky. And he just stood there patiently waiting for the two mares to respond. "Uhm…. I guess you could go to Ponyville, it's not long from here, and I'm sure you could find some kind of hotel, or at least a place to stay for the night." Said Twilight, She didn't expect a foreign pony, maybe a pony from Canterlot or something, but not a foreigner. Come to think of it she had never met a pony who didn't come from Equestria.

"Sounds great but would you mind show me the way?"

"Of course just follow us" said pinkie  
"Wait I have some questions first" interrupted Twilight as the two started walking.

"Don't worry we can talk as we walk, and answer as we talk." said the stranger with a smile.

"Ok, first. Where do you come from and what are you doing here in Equestria." The unicorn asked

"That is too personal, ask me something else"

"Ok, what's with you cutie mark, are you a librarian too?"

"No, my cutie mark is from…learning, you know learning new stuff and such. But I do love books. And reading is a great way to learn."

"If there is something to learn I'm sure miss. Cheerilee will be more than happy to."

"Pinkie I'm pretty sure he doesn't need an education meant for fillies" interrupted Twilight with her lecturing voice

"So I guess you came here to learn, am I right?" Twilight asked trying to get the conversation back on track

"That is partly right, but not entirely true. I had a few other reasons for coming, but please don't nag because I really don't want to talk about it"

"Ok, ok. Soo uhmm… quit a bad weather today huh."

"I actually like rain, it reminds me of home….*sigh* I'm being secretive aren't I?"

"Really? You don't say"

"Sorry I didn't mean to, I've been that way for a long time. Maybe for too long, it's hard for me to get any form of trust, ironically that is one of the reasons why I'm here…."

"So you came here to make friends? We can teach you that, and since your talent is learning it should be no problem at all. Twilight here had the same problem when she came to Ponyville. She got 5 pff(pony friends forever) and didn't even want to make friends in the first place." said the ever optimistic pony Pinkie pie.

The stranger thought about it for a moment. He DID expect the ponies here to be welcoming but not in that kind of way.

"Thanks, it has been a long way, and I certainly hope it will be worth it. Not that I mind walking or anything." The stranger finally said.

"You can start making friends right now, you can start by introducing yourself, what is your name?"

"You can call me stranger or THE stranger, but no nicknames I got plenty and I don't need more."

"Stranger… well I guess you can call me Twilight sparkle or just Twilight. Why is your name soo…..strange? I guess it wasn't the name your parents gave you am I right?"

"True. But I never knew my parents. The first thing I remember me doing is walking into a town or village and some…pony called me stranger so I thought it was my name, and I've stick to it ever since"

"Did you come here to find your parents?" Stranger couldn't help to laugh out loud at what she said. He tried to hold it back but he was helpless. He all most fell on the ground from pure laughter. He knew it would become a common question and that ponies would ask it when he told them about himself. But it didn't make it less fun. Twilight was confused; if she had said something funny pinkie pie would be the first to laugh. "Did I say something funny?" she asked pinkie pie, while Stranger was rolling around in the dirt." I don't have the tiniest tiny idea. Maybe he just like mud."

Stranger was now slowly picking himself up from the dirt. "I'm so sorry…but the answer to your question must be no, a BIG no. I don't expect to find them here or anywhere else.

"Oh… but why would you laughing about something like that? Are you sure you are feeling okay?"

"Hey don't worry, maybe I will explain some other time, but right now I need to figure out where to stay."

Twilight hadn't even realized it, they were already in Ponyville.  
"So I guess this is where we'll part ways. I hope we'll meet again, until next time." He said.

He waved goodbye and started looking for a hotel." WAIT!" Twilight yelled. This was a once in a life chance, a stranger from a completely unknown land, of course she was curious. She wanted to know more about him. Even if it meant, heaving a strange Stranger staying in her house.

"You could stay at my place until you get your own house. And if you want to learn more about Equestria, a library would be the ideal place to stay right." Said Twilight

"I am very grateful for you offer, but are you sure I can do just fine on my own you know"

"Do you even have any bits? You can't rent a room if can't pay for it."¨

"Umm… yes… I hadn't really thought so far, I guess you're right. But I have a tent and bedroll you really don't have to"

"What's wrong with you? Can't you just accept an offer? I insist that you stay with me for the night. I can't let you sleep in a tent in the rain wet and cold while I am home clean dry and cosy. It's the least I can do"  
In the end, Stranger could see she wouldn't bend so he accepted Twilight's offer, said goodbye to Pinkie pie, and followed Twilight.

Twilight's home was a hollowed out tree with widows a balcony on the side and a telescope on the top. There were lights in the windows probably lit up by Spike if there were no lights the house would have been very hard to spot it could easily go for a normal tree if the lights weren't there.

It was dark now, but stranger could see the house clear as day when a lightning bolt stuck down not so far away, the rain was turning into a storm.

TO BE CONTINUED


	2. Chapter 2

It was almost Night now or at least it felt like night, it was very dark. Where had all the time gone? Only a few minutes ago the rain was just a little downpour and the sky was sort of bright but all of a sudden the slow rain had turned into a power storm and the sky was completely black as ink. For now, Twilight and Stranger didn't have time to think about the odd weather all they cared about was getting into shelter.

They both galloped towards the tree almost breaking down the door as they reached it. "Well I did say I liked rain but I do have my limits." Stranger said smiling, bad luck and bad weather didn't seam to affect him much.

Twilight on the other hoof was not in such a good mood. She was late on her studies, completely soaked, and she had to let a stranger live with her for who knows how long. Rather, she didn't need to, but she felt it was her duty. Twilight closed the door and looked at herself, she wasn't just wet; she was complete and utterly drenched. It had been a serious cloudburst. As they tried drying themselves, a little purple dragon was running down the stairs shouting. "Twilight, Twilight!" The dragon stalled as he saw the two ponies, looked at them and let out a relieved sigh. "You are never late so I thought something was wrong." He said.

"No need to worry Spike, I just got dragged away by Pinkie Pie, you know how it goes." Twilight said.

"Yeah I know how it goes. But who are you?" He asked Stranger.

"I'm a visitor or rather your new house mate if you want, you choose." Stranger said.

"New house mate! Twilight would you please explain. I don't get it, why does he have to stay with us?" Spike asked with an, I'm not so happy about this, tone.

"Because he's got nowhere else to stay for the night. He just has to stay here for a while, or would you rather have me leave him out in the storm?" Twilight was sounding very convincing. Spike couldn't contradict with that but Twilight figured he would come around sooner or later.

Stranger didn't seem to pay much attention to their conversation; in the meantime he had just helped himself to some books in the library, immersed in the knowledge kept inside the small pieces of paper. "Don't you think you should wait till you've rested? I'm sure the books can wait for you, right now you really need a bath." Twilight said.

"Maybe you are right, it's just been such a long time since I've read a new book, probably years." He said. Stranger put the books back into the bookshelf with his magic and yawned, "But where will I get to sleep? I'm fine with the floor if you don't have extra beds."

"Oh no need to worry, I have an extra bed upstairs, just beside…my bed." Twilight had just about got used to the thought of living with him, but sleeping right next to him wasn't the plan.

Stranger saw the expression on her face, he understood what was bothering her and said, "Great! I'll go up and move it." He said as he went upstairs. He didn't let her know that he knew how she felt about this so he said it like they had planed it from the very start.

Meanwhile Twilight now turned her attention against Spike. "Please try to understand, I don't like this anymore than you do. But this pony knows things, things we can never find out if we just let him go. This is an opportunity for us to learn something about his land, and where he comes from. Information you couldn't find in the Canterlot archives if you searched for a hundred years."

As she had just finished talking, Stranger came down with a floating bed behind him. Twilight couldn't help to be a little impressed as she saw him lifting the bed while walking downstairs. A bed is a bit heavy and is not the easiest thing to levitate, but he didn't even hold eye contact.

"Where should I put it?" he asked

"You can put it in the basement I hope you are okay with that." Twilight hoped.

"Sure, I could sleep on a rock if I had to, wait I did that once…wasn't pleasant."

After struggling a bit with getting the bed through the door he placed it on the floor and looked around in the room. The basement was filled with all kinds of devices and machines for research and studying. And of course it was below the tree so there were a lot of roots in there as well. "I can use all the books I want right?" he yelled to the room upstairs.

"Yes, as long as you treat them properly. The library is paid through taxes so it's free to rent books." Twilight walked down to join him. "I hope you'll enjoy your stay. If there is anything you need just let me know. I'll leave you to get settled"

"Well it's not like I got any luggage except my saddle bag, so I'll just skip straight to that hot bath of yours; if you don't mind that is?" Stranger asked and threw his bag on the bed.

"Oh it's just upstairs on the first floor, or you could just go outside." She joked. Stranger smiled and walked upstairs to find the bathroom.

'_I'll give him a day to rest and THEN ask questions.'_ Twilight thought to herself. But then another thought struck her mind. '_Maybe I could learn something about him by the contents of his saddlebag.'_ She took a look at the bag. It was just lying there, waiting for somepony to search it. '_I really shouldn't snoop around in other ponies private belongings.' _She moved closer. '_Oh what could possibly go wrong? __It is just a bag I'm sure he wouldn't mind.' _ She was now holding the bag in her hoofs. Twilight slowly opened it, but then dropped all its contents down on the floor as she tried to look inside. '_Blasted hoofs!'_ Just as she predicted, there was the wrapt roll that could be used as a tent and the bedroll Stranger mentioned earlier. What she didn't expect was three equally sized books, each very old, even older than the bag. The books had letters on them Twilight didn't recognize, with details that couldn't have been made by pony hoofs or magic. Actually the details looked like magic, not light, sparkling, and glowing but like they were living and with a magic like shape. Each of the books were locked with an old leather strap around them. The lock somehow looked new but had the same kind of details as the books. The colors were worn out with age, but Twilight could still detect blue, red, green, and light brown. The books were all different in details, color, and design but it was clear they were a set. They were magic, that much was sure. These books were special, very special, as in one of a kind special. They were properly written by he Stranger and properly in his own language.

It took some time for Twilight Sparkle to realize what she had just done, so after staring at them for a while she tried to put the books and his other stuff back with her magic. But the books, however, wouldn't move. They must have had some sort or magic repelling enchantment for protection. Twilight had to move it with her hoofs and once again her predictions were true; the book felt weird as she touched it. It was warm like the skin of a living pony, but as she held it up and observed, forgetting she was about to put it away, it got cold. It got very cold, as if it didn't want to be touched for too long. It began to shake and Twilight knew this was the sign to hurry up so she quickly stuffed all three books back into the bag and threw the bag on the bed. This was getting scary.

Now Twilight was even more curious than before, this could have answered a lot of questions but instead it only brought more questions up; what was written in those books? Were they magic? Why were they locked? Why did they shake when she was holding them? Were they secret? She wanted to know all this but then she would have to admit she looked in his bag without permission. The only way she would ever find out was for Stranger to show it himself… or she could take a second look. In the end curiosity got the better of her, so she decided to look again.

As she was just about to open the bag again the door slammed open. "Ah that sure was a cold bath." Twilight just managed to put the bag back on the bed before Stranger turned his eyes on her. "I know it may be a bit early, but I think I want to sleep now, I see a big day coming up tomorrow." He smiled a tired smile. He was torn out from all the walking.

"I understand, I'll leave you to your snoring." Twilight said, then walked up the stairs, and finally closed the door.

'_This pony mean trouble I jus know it. __At first he was just secretive but now he was damn right mysterious.'_ She thought to herself. She went up to her room took a quill some ink and some paper. She began to draw tree equally sized books. It didn't go so well. She is good with a quill when writing and spelling but drawing wasn't her strong side but she was satisfied with the drawing. The unicorn spent some time just starring at it, as if it would somehow answer some of the many questions on her mind. '_Who is this mysterious pony?'_

After a while of doing nothing, she turned to her books to find some answers….

8 hours later: _'A whole night, a whole bucking night of nothing!' _Twilight slammed her head into one of the all too many useless books. The studious unicorn quickly went through her list:

-The books were magic: check.

-The books were special: check.

-The books must have some kind of history: check.

-That history must have been written down: uncheck.

Not a single one of her books referred to anything of the books description or features. She had searched everything from sophisticated history to lullabies for foals. Twilight felt ridiculous; she had stayed up all night without finding a reference of a hint to what she saw last night.

Just as she was about to pass out; a blue stallion with a tangled mane come up to greet her "Good morning, how did you sleep? Oh!"

Twilight turned her head slowly, she had no need to say how tired she was. "Sleep?" She asked.

Stranger didn't need to ask what had happened, the books on the floor and Twilight's eyes spoke for themselves. He knew she had been studding and what she was trying to find out. "I think its time for you to go to bed"

"I can't sleep now, I have appointments and responsibilities to keep. Spike can't handle all of my chores himself." She said.

"How about we do it like this, you write a list of the things you need done, and I'll take care of it for you while you get your rest." Stranger proposed.

"Are you sure you can do that? I warn you, I have a lot of responsibilities." Twilight warned him.

"You don't need to worry about me doing your work, what you need to worry about is me doing them better than you." He said with a teasing smile.

Twilight draw a little smile. "There no arguing with you is there?" She used her magic to lift a quill and some paper from the nearby table, and began writing a list:

-Rainbow Dash is late with some books; give her a reminder.

-Applejack has an order of apples ready; go get them.

-Fluttershy should have counted this year's population of newborn baby bunnies; get the numbers to the major's office.

-Ask Pinkie Pie for a schedule of the upcoming parties; bring a wheelbarrow.

-Rarity wanted more books about the history of fashion but is too busy with her work to retrieve them herself so I offered to deliver them to her.

"There, that just about covers it. I'm sure Spike can give you directional *yawn* help to where each pony lives or might be. This list is *yawn* relatively short, so you don't have to worry about *big yawn* theee… *bonk*." Twilight head hit the desk.

Stranger rolled eyes and turned off his façade. The understanding and caring smile on his face vanished, and the eyes which before was oh so happy now seamed like a big black and numb hole. It looked like an act from a talented actor who was now playing his role in the theatre. He also seamed to get a little darker and a bit duller; the colours of his mane and coat were the same as before but somehow he didn't fit in to his surrounding colours anymore, that much was sure. Despite this, his eyes only seamed to get more color, they had changed from an innocent distinctive yellow to a lightning like glowing magical orbs that could pierce through any wall or soul; you could almost see the lightning sparking inside. It was like a charm had worn off, leaving his soul without light and filled it into his eyes. From one second to the next, a completely different pony had appeared where the other one had vanished. He picked up the note Twilight had dropped when she fell asleep. "Time to make some friends." He said with a different smile.


	3. Chapter 3

He dropped the note, '_I should be able to remember that.' _ He thought to himself.

Stranger then turned his gaze on Twilight. He looked at her as if she was some kind of object he had to deal with …like garbage. Not with hate or disgust, not with grief or irritation, more like as if she was some kind of a responsibility he couldn't let down. He walked over to take a closer look at her; despite her troubled mane, she was a beautiful mare. The morning sun lit up her pony face trough the window; she looked so peaceful in the light, like nothing of this world would ever hurt her. Stranger moved his hoof slowly trough her mane, even though it was twisted from all the missing sleep and the stress caused by her frustrations, it was still quite soft and neat. Stranger was still putting on that serious face; he wasn't thinking about abusing her while she slept, he just wanted to feel her purple hair in his hoof.

'_How did it come to this?'_

He moaned frustrated and threw himself down on the floor beside Twilight. "Would you ever understand? Will I ever tell you the truth? Would you ever be ready?" he asked, well knowing she wasn't going to answer. After speaking to himself, he got back on his hooves but not before swiftly pulling out a pink hair from her mane. Afterwards he started to lift Twilight into bed. He carefully pulled the purple blanked over her and said, "Sleep well…and don't worry about your chores they will be dealt with."

Stranger saw that Spike was still asleep, snoring like only a dragon can. Stranger had to turn his mask back on before he could confront the little purple dragon with his questions. Being in act was tiring but he had to do it, if he wanted to keep his low profile. He took some seconds to stretch out his face, before he began the real transformation. He needed to rest it from time to time. It feels like putting a pencil in your jaw, it doesn't hurt that much but its irritating, and you feel kinda' ridiculous. Actually it's not even a real spell, just a little trick to change your charisma and aura. If done right, ponies would actually have a hard time recognizing you. After a little shiver and some blinking the more colorful and optimistic version of Stranger was back in the room. He conjured up a magic mirror to check his appearance, and as always he was satisfied with the result. He didn't want to risk waking Twilight, so before he woke Spike he carried him down to the library's main hall. "Spike, hey Spike!" Stranger said as he poked the little dragon to wake him up.

After a minute of constant and patient poking, the purple lizard slowly opened his eyes.

"Huh Twilight?"

"No as I said yesterday my name is Stranger, I need to ask you a couple of things." He said with his fake face.

Spike got out of his sleeping basket and yawned, "Why can't you just ask Twilight?"

"Because Twilight stayed up all night while studding, so now she has to make up for the sleep she lost while I do her chores." explained Stranger.

Spike didn't really want to answer right now; he had thought he could have a day off now when Twilight was going to sleep all day. But he knew Twilight, if Spike didn't help The Stranger, she would just blame him for being uncooperative. And so he figured the best way to avoid a lecture was to just help the pony. "Okay what do you need to know?" Spike asked with an up giving tone.

"I need directional help to where Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and…"

A devious idea just hit Stranger. "And Miss Cheerilee live, or might be at the given moment." He finished.

"Are you sure? I don't remember seeing Miss Cheerilee on Twilights schedule?" Spike asked.

"Yes that was the name!" The Stranger said and smiled. Spike didn't suspect a thing, he just thought Stranger was forgetful, but truth be told; the Stranger has yet to ever forget a pony's name.

The storm had taken its toll on Ponyville, a lot of the plants and flowers were ripped out of the ground, and roof tiles were randomly spread all over the place. Even though it was early in the morning, ponies were already out working to clean up the mess from the storm. The storm made by the Pegasus's had been scheduled, so they had plenty of time to prepare for it, yet this had been something else, something different, something special; like the pony that was now wandering through the street towards a certain "Carousel Boutique: a big high purple and round building, just over the bridge in the southeast end of town. It is formed like a carousel _(whatever that is)_ with a little red flag at the top, easy to recognize, you can't miss it" Stranger said to himself, retracing Spike's description of the shop. He stropped to take a better look at the building before he continued.

"Home to the most…beautiful mare in Equestria" The Stranger was slightly puzzled about Spike's choice of words; it sounded like he had a crush on this pony.

_But_ _how could a dragon have a crush on a_…. he stopped himself from thinking any further, and decided not to think too much about that.

"First on my list; deliver some books to a dress maker, it should be fair easy to get a conversation going"

Stranger had brought the books Spike instructed, including:

-A trip to fashion

-Pony style party dresses

-Why griffon dresses will never be this fabulous

-Warning! These dresses will attract dragons and… How they made them before the great winter. The Stranger gave that book an extra thought. '_The great winter could it be?'_

Stranger was just about to look in his saddlebag when remembered the task at hoof. He shook his head to get out of the thought stream and continued towards the Boutique, in a slow tempo. As he walked into the store; a doorbell rang, signalling to the shops owner.

"Wait just a moment dear!" He heard a pony call out from the upper floor. Stranger didn't see the reason to wait, he wasn't a customer but he waited anyway just to be polite.

After a shot moment, a white mare pony came down to what she thought was a customer.

She was wearing red glasses and had a measuring tape hanging around her neck. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique, I'm so sorry for the delays I had, and still have some work to finish. Either way is there any way I can assist you?" Rarity asked.

Stranger grinned. "No need, I am not a great shopper. I came here to deliver some books for Twilight Sparkle." Stranger said and pulled out five books and hoofed them over to Rarity.

"Oh the books I requested" Rarity looked the books through and found a book out of place.

"Hold on dear, there seams to be a mistake I didn't send for this one, it doesn't even have a title, and why is it locked?" Rarity asked.

Stranger's heart DID skip a beat; the shock was painted all over his face. Fortunately Rarity was too busy examining the book to notes the Stranger's expression, he was at the brink of changing back and drop out of his act.

Even with his incomprehensive willpower, it took quite some effort to say, "Sorry wrong book, I think this is the one you wanted." With a calm and controlled voice, and then he hoofed her, the right book.

"Ah wonderful, is there a reason why didn't Twilight attend herself? And by the way who are you if you don't mind my saying?" Rarity asked.

"Twilight couldn't attend herself because she stayed up all night studding; she was tired so I told her; the importance of beauty sleep. And me, I am The Stranger; you may call me Stranger.

I will be staying at Twilight Sparkle until I find my own home in Ponyville. You must be Rarity, It's a pleasure making your acquaintance." The Stranger said as he bowed, and put his precious book back to safety.

"Well then, what brought you to Ponyville?" Asked the charmed and curios Rarity.

The Strangers accent had completely disappeared, leaving Rarity no clue of his foreign background, in fact he started to sound a bit like a high class pony from Canterlot, using courtesies and speaking words he thought of as unnecessary. "Oh just some minor things I needed to attend to; I'm seeking inspiration for my work, and heard that this place has some of the more; beautiful landscapes in Equestria." Stranger didn't make eye contact as he talked, instead he would wander around in the Boutique, and admire the vast selection of beautiful dresses, made by Rarity. "But talking about beauty, I must say; these outfits are absolutely gorgeous." He turned his head, as he was done saying the last sentence.

"Why, thank you dear. But these are from my old collection, and are not selling very well at the moment. I am working a new selection right now, but… it is not going to well to say the least.

I got the idea of making _old_ style dresses."

"Sounds interesting, might I see what you're working on? I might be able to help you with them."

"That would be wonderful, my ensembles is just upstairs." Rarity said joyfully, and trotted towards the stairs with her newly obtained books. "Twilights library has been most helpful, but even though I somehow can't seam to get the colors right, I have never been this frustrated with a dress before.

The design is so perfect but, oh the colors, you see back then when the designs were made, ponies didn't put colors in their books, and any record or description of the designs, is as good as lost forever."

The Stranger followed Rarity as she spoke, paying close attention to every word. As they walked inside Rarity's inspiration room, the Stranger could clearly see what Rarity meant; the colors on the dresses were horrifying, and totally destroying the potential of the fine designs. It wasn't the lack of color nor was it ugly colors; they just seamed out of place with the wrong composition. They were not as simple as the other dresses he saw downstairs, and had at least twice as many details, nibs and nabs; with a strong and outstanding nuance, but it was hugely overdone, with far too much variation, and far too few matching's. Despite the bright and cheery looks, the dresses were disgusting and ugly beyond ANY compare. Rarity sighed. She was clearly not happy with the result of her hard work and dedication. She fought it pointless to even hope for any kind of good or optimistic reaction from the Stranger, but to her big surprise; Stranger was smiling.

"Might I take a closer look at them?" Stranger asked.

"B-but of course." Rarity said in confusion.

The dresses were horrible; a blind pony could see it from a mile away, so why would anypony want to take a closer look? He walk over to examine the dresses further, He seamed to take it very seriously; touching the fabric, lifting small straps and overlays, and then walked around it and back to Rarity. "I may indeed be able to help you with this." He coughed, as preparing for a long speech.

"Apart from the color and the disastrous looks of these dresses, it really isn't that wrong, the design is actually perfect, and there is a good reason why the colors turned out so badly. You see, back when the dresses were designed; colored fabrics were extremely hard to come by. In fact even royalty rarely had gowns with colors beyond light blue, white, weak pink, beige, and light purple. But to your luck, you've chosen a very fine and vary expensive dress, to recreate, in contract to other dress by its time; this dress can be fitted to almost any color, as long as it is weak or light."

Rarity was astonished, by the Strangers knowledge, but let him continue. "The dresses were designed to have weak and pale colors, and that is why strong stylings will never fit it. Think vintage and imagine that dress with a white base and a light blue skirt. Remove the fake headdress and add a few accessories to cover up the naked parts; the details should be kept shining so throw a golden thread into the edges."

As Stranger explained, he illustrated by pointing out the flaws, as he would say what could be improved, apparently there was much to me done. Fortunately, Rarity didn't have to make a new dress as the Stranger could redo the colors by the use of magic; afterwards it would be easy to make a copy for selling. About a half hour had past before Stranger and Rarity were done recreating the first dress, it had been tiresome but in the long run, it was definitely worth it. The dress was now looking more beautiful, than Rarity had ever hoped to imagine, an elegant white and blue dress with fitting detail and astonishing finish, complete with a new headwear to match the shoes, the back had been flatten out to keep the wearing pony nimble, and thin looking. Around the neck was an outstanding, deep ocean blue sapphire necklace, sewn into the outfit to make it shine like Princess Luna's moon; giving it a magical and mystical aura of the night. But finally the dress was done. Stranger and Rarity took a step back, to admire their work.

"We most certainly came out lucky with this one." Said Stranger.

"Lucky?! It turned out fabulous, no less than a marvel. I don't have the slightest idea, what I would have done, if you hadn't come along. But I must ask you; how in the world could a pony like you know so mush about fashion?" Rarity asked.

"It is not so mush knowledge about fashion as it is history; you see I am in fact a historian, specialized in the time before The Great Winter." Stranger explained.

"You are an absolute delight; I just don't know how to thank you for this. If there is any way I can repay you…"

"No need to." Stranger interrupted. "Let us just call this; the beginning of a new friendship." Said Stranger as he smiled wide with a charming tooth in the end of his mouth.

"So I guess you'll be going now?" Asked Rarity; clearly disappointed of the short time she had spent, with this new pony.

"Yes, I still have a few tasks ahead of me, and I probably won't be free before this afternoon." Said Stranger, as he picked up his saddlebag and walked out of the room followed by Rarity. "But maybe we could have some tea tomorrow, if you are free that is" Stranger offered

"That would be wonderful I can finish the rest of the dresses by myself, so I will have plenty of free time. See you tomorrow dear." Finished Rarity and waved goodbye to her new founded friend.

'_Clearly_ _a pony of high importance.'_ She fought to herself, and she was right; Stranger was about to play a very important role in the history of Ponyville. For the better or worse, the Stranger in Ponyville was now heading towards an unfamiliar farm.

'_One dealt with three to go. This turned out, fabulous.'_

To be continued.


End file.
